The Syrian Crisis has now definitively entered a new phase, in which the shifting priorities of external states are driving the creation of an interim set of pre-settlement conditions. Since the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen in March 2015 and Russia’s military intervention in September 2015, the geopolitical dynamic has been evolving in a direction that has undermined the Syrian opposition’s struggle against the Assad regime. Two years later, that anti-Assad struggle has never looked weaker or more vulnerable. Whatever nuanced statements one might hear these days from officials in Washington, London, Paris, Riyadh or Ankara, the reality is that none of those governments now seek the removal of Assad, nor do they even see that as possible.

This paper explores the relationship between terrorism and human rights from the international legal perspective, considering terrorism as both a cause and a product of human rights violations and what that means for counter-terrorism efforts.

Charles Lister, director of MEI's Extremism and Counterterrorism program, discusses what the recent terror attack in lower Manhattan, and the suspect's claimed connection to ISIS, mean for U.S. security and counterterrorism policy.

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Countering Terrorism

Launched in October 2016, MEI’s Countering Violent Transnational Movements project undertakes in-depth research and analysis into the region’s varied terrorist threats and their underlying drivers, including civil conflict; and ​seeks ​to propose effective policy responses. The project is led by MEI senior fellows Charles Lister and Alex Vatanka and is supported by a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York.​